Homelessness

Monica Almeida/The New York Times

News about Homelessness, including commentary and archival articles published in The New York Times.

Chronology of Coverage

Mar. 25, 2015

Housing program supporting mentally ill homeless people in both New York City and New York State will expire in 2016 unless agreement is reached between Gov Andrew M Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio; coalition of advocacy groups, social service organizations and religious leaders calls for expansion of program and 30,000 new units to be created in city, but Cuomo and deBlasio have each proposed more modest plans. MORE

Mar. 23, 2015

Pilot program in Hennepin County, Minn, which encompasses Minneapolis, is one of many in country that seeks to better manage cases of so-called super utilizers of hospital care, who are often poor, homeless, or suffer from mental illness or addiction; Hennepin program focuses on 10,000 people and tries to fix their problems before they evolve into serious medical issues; such programs have raised questions of degree to which health system has role in tackling issues like poverty. MORE

Mar. 23, 2015

Editorial holds damning report on state of New York City's homeless shelters reveals systemic collapse; contends inspection system has become meaningless, and city continues to pay millions to house homeless in places that are known to be dangerous and squalid; calls on Homeless Services Dept to work with other city agencies to insure that all of its 145 shelters are brought up to code. MORE

Mar. 14, 2015

Photographs taken by homeless men and women of Paris are displayed outside city hall, giving new perspective on city and drawing attention to issue of homelessness. MORE

Mar. 13, 2015

Yearlong inquiry by New York City's Investigation Dept finds homeless shelter system, which houses 119,000 people and operates 145 shelters, is rife with health and safety violations; report notes problems are decades old and Homeless Services Dept has taken steps to address some concerns. MORE

Mar. 12, 2015

Juliet Macur Sports of The Times column on Ryan Hoffman, former North Carolina lineman who is now homeless and believes that football damaged his brain; notes that Hoffman's former teammates are raising money to help him get the assistance he needs, but he is hesitant to accept it. MORE

Mar. 3, 2015

Video of Los Angeles police officers shooting to death homeless man in Skid Row as they tried to arrest him as suspect in robbery has become symbolic of what many people view as police abuses aimed against minorities and homeless; police say he was reaching for weapon; video, taken by bystander, was uploaded to Facebook. MORE

Feb. 23, 2015

New Life Evangelistic Center in St Louis, shelter run by Rev Larry Rice that is known for taking in about 300 people a night, has been ordered by city's Board of Public Service to drastically limit its occupancy to 32 beds; new developers and local businesses complain about residents around the shelter, saying they create a public nuisance; Rice says he refuses to comply, and battle has spurred debate in city about how to treat homeless. MORE

Feb. 9, 2015

New York City's Homeless Services Dept will devote increased resources to address so-called unsheltered homeless, high-needs subset of more than 3,000 people who remain wary of traditional shelters; will allocate more than $45 million in city and state funds to issue. MORE

Jan. 30, 2015

Veterans Affairs Dept moves to settle three-year-old lawsuit brought on behalf of 4,000 homeless veterans in Los Angeles; pledges to build permanent and transitional housing on 387-acre tract near Brentwood neighborhood that was deeded to government in 1888 to house disabled veterans; project will also include other locations. MORE

Jan. 30, 2015

Editorial applauds Veterans Affairs Dept decision to use portions of its Los Angeles property for housing veterans; criticizes both department and city officials, however, for former misuse of property and lack of veteran housing; commends Veterans Affairs Sec Robert McDonald for moving to rectify situation; contends that problem of veteran homelessness cannot be addressed without changes in Los Angeles. MORE

Jan. 17, 2015

Allison Arieff Op-Ed article describes effort led by Hyphae Design Lab to design and build public restrooms in San Francisco, which shows how design projects can address problems that arise as result of issues like homelessness. MORE

Jan. 16, 2015

Seattle Mayor Ed Murray plans to ask City Council to approve three additional homeless encampments to address what he describes as 'full-blown' homelessness crisis; approval would bring number of authorized tent cities in Seattle to nine. MORE

Jan. 8, 2015

New York City's Homeless Services Dept, as part of effort to end child abuse fatalities, is dispatching social workers to visit high-risk families living in homeless shelters to asses their histories and provide more support services. MORE

Jan. 2, 2015

Las Cruces, NM, officials are making exception to zoning laws, letting almost 50 homeless people live in Hope City, tent encampment on city-owned property; camp has become transformative force and bringing homeless closer to social services, and hopes of permanent homes. MORE

Dec. 30, 2014

Scott Croly is one of several volunteer pianists who play for soup kitchen guests at Church of the Holy Apostles in Chelsea; church has live piano music every weekday during mealtime. MORE

Dec. 25, 2014

Comedian Margaret Cho gives nine performances around San Francisco to raise money and collect clothing donations for homeless; was inspired by charity work of friend Robin Williams, who recently committed suicide. MORE

Dec. 25, 2014

San Jose, Calif, begins counting and clearing out homeless encampments around city; displaced people are either moved into subsidized housing or given rental subsidy vouchers. MORE

Dec. 11, 2014

Mark Bustos, hairstylist at the elite Three Squares Studios salon in Chelsea, ventures onto city streets every Sunday to provide free haircuts to the homeless. MORE

Dec. 5, 2014

Officials in San Jose, Calif, clear out 68-acre homeless camp after year-and-a-half-long attempt to find more stable homes for 300 inhabitants; at least one-third of residents face few options in area where real estate market is one of most expensive in nation. MORE

Dec. 3, 2014

Florida Judge Thomas Lynch imposes 30-day suspension on enforcement of Fort Lauderdale law that restricts public feeding of homeless people and orders mediation on issue. MORE

Nov. 22, 2014

Funeral is held for homeless man Eric Glenn Smith, who died of stroke in July; Owens Funeral Home in Harlem agrees to perform service and burial, which are paid for by friends who spent months raising money around Upper West Side block where he lived, for fraction of usual cost. MORE

Nov. 15, 2014

Number of homeless people on New York City's streets has risen in 2014, after a decade in which number had fallen by almost 25 percent; uptick has resulted in growing number of homeless encampments in city's parks, traffic squares and plazas, leading to tensions with neighboring communities. MORE

Nov. 13, 2014

Newest restrictions on homeless population in Ft Lauderdale, Fla, have put city at center of escalating debate across Florida as local governments struggle to feed, help and handle state's ever-present homeless population; Florida had nearly 55,000 homeless people in 2012, ranking third in nation. MORE

Nov. 12, 2014

Letter from Jane Gross, retired reporter for The New York Times, comments on Nov 11 article on New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio beginning rent subsidy program to move hundreds of abuse victims out of homeless shelters. MORE

Nov. 11, 2014

Domestic violence has emerged as a priority on housing agenda of New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, who has begun rent subsidy program to move hundreds of abuse victims out of homeless shelters; program has also stepped up counseling efforts in public housing; addressing issue is challenging, since financial aid to evade eviction does not work when a woman and her children have to escape their home. MORE

Nov. 7, 2014

Delhi Journal; city's police register more than 3,000 unidentifiable bodies in an average year, unidentifiable not because they are unrecognizable but because they carry no documents and there is no one who knows them; most of the unclaimed dead appear to be Indian men from distant villages, sent to the city to earn money. MORE

Oct. 31, 2014

Annual survey from Housing and Urban Development Dept reveals that while number of homeless people across country fell in 2014, New York City's homeless population has continued to grow in almost every category, including individuals, families and chronically homeless; survey, conducted just days after Mayor Bill de Blasio took office, reflects significant challenge he inherited. MORE

Oct. 24, 2014

New York City detectives are investigating death of a 4-year-old girl who died while with her mother at a Queens homeless shelter. MORE

Oct. 21, 2014

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announces that his administration is doing an internal investigation of the city’s procedures and reviewing domestic violence and child safety in shelters, after beating death of Jeida Torres at Brooklyn homeless shelter; her stepfather, Kelsey Smith, faces second-degree murder and other charges, MORE

Oct. 10, 2014

Fondness for bikes, literary culture and liberal impulses in Portland, Ore, have come together with Street Books, nonprofit book service founded by Laura Moulton for homeless people; librarians fill carts based on their tastes and their patrons' tastes. MORE

Oct. 9, 2014

Homeless men Anthony Pastore and Frank Grillo live in a tent in a patch of greenery alongside Brooklyn's Gowanus Expressway; makeshift home is within a stone's throw of South Park Slope, rapidly gentrifying neighborhood in which the two men have grown up and spent their entire lives. MORE

Sep. 21, 2014

National effort to eliminate homelessness among veterans has made significant strides, placing 51,000 veterans in housing; advocates say program gives veterans stability of housing before tackling underlying problems with drugs or mental health; 50,000 veterans remain homeless, however, and programs future is in jeopardy. MORE

Sep. 6, 2014

Michael Wilson Crime Scene column on the dozens of homeless people who line up outside the James A Farley Post Office in Manhattan each week to retrieve their mail; examines tale of Armando Calderon, Chicago man who vanished 30 years ago and may be living, homeless, in New York; his family regularly sends mail to him at Farley Post Office in hopes of one day connecting again. MORE

Aug. 31, 2014

Offers of help are pouring in after newspaper article revealed that family of a player who represented Chicago in the Little League World Series is homeless. MORE

Aug. 25, 2014

Miley Cyrus causes stir once again at MTV Video Music awards by sending a 22-year-old homeless man to accept her video of the year award for song Wrecking Ball; Cyrus' representatives say it is part of fund-raising campaign for My Friend's Place, organization in Los Angeles that helps young homeless people find housing, jobs, health care and schooling. MORE

Aug. 22, 2014

Revised interpretation of New York State law governing where sex offenders can live is leading to dozens of them being held in prison beyond their release dates; law restricts sex offenders from living within 1,000 feet of a school, and new interpretation includes homeless shelters in restriction; in New York City, only 14 of 270 shelters under auspices of Homeless Services are now deemed eligible to receive sex offenders. MORE

Aug. 13, 2014

New York state and city officials will create two rent subsidy programs to help families with children leave New York City shelters and move into their own apartments; agree to pay $80 million over four years to provide rental assistance to homeless families in which at least one person holds full-time job; second program focuses on chronically homeless families. MORE

Aug. 4, 2014

Side Street column; Bowery was once synonymous with being down and out but services for homeless men have become harder to find there; Archdiocese of New York turned Holy Name Center for Homeless Men, refuge since the 1940s, into a cultural center; some say what is happening on the Bowery is not surprising in a city where the well-off need not interact with the needy. MORE

Aug. 3, 2014

Op-Ed article by author Justin St Germain describes his relief at leaving Albuquerque, New Mexico, and its culture of arbitrary violence, particularly against the homeless; contends that culture of violence stems in part from police; notes in particular that the Albuquerque police are notorious for use of excessive force. MORE

Aug. 2, 2014

New York City asks religious leaders to help overcome community resistance to new homeless shelters after series of testy confrontations in neighborhoods where they are being placed; 500 people turned out to protest opening of shelter at defunct Pan American Hotel in Elmhurst, Queens. MORE

Aug. 1, 2014

First Lady Michelle Obama details progress of administration's effort to end homelessness among military veterans by end of 2015, saying Phoenix and Salt Lake City have already eliminated chronic homelessness among their veterans, and New Orleans is expected to do the same within six months; more than 180 mayors, governors and other leaders have joined effort. MORE

Aug. 1, 2014

California Republican gubernatorial candidate Neel Kashkari spends a week on Fresno, Calif, streets posing as a homeless man; experiment adds some sorely needed publicity to his campaign against incumbent Democratic Gov Jerry Brown, while also attracting some ridicule. MORE

Jul. 26, 2014

Protest over homeless shelter at defunct Pan American Hotel in Queens focuses on the homeless themselves, rather than the city's decision to open the shelter; residents, mostly Chinese immigrants, say they feel threatened by the new arrivals, who are mostly black and Latino. MORE

Jul. 24, 2014

Albuquerque police say killings of two homeless people by three teenagers are staggering in their brutality; murders expose some of profound social ills, including alcoholism, abject poverty and neglect, that have longed plagued New Mexico; Alex Rios, 18, is arraigned and held along with the other two assailants, both juveniles, on $5 million bond; all three could be tried as adults on first-degree murder charges. MORE

Jul. 22, 2014

Three Albuquerque teenagers are being held on $5 million bond after admitting to police that they beat two homeless men to death with cinder blocks, bricks and a metal fence post. MORE

Jul. 19, 2014

Arizona prosecutor has agreed to drop felony child abuse charges against Shanesha Taylor, homeless mother who left her two sons in hot car while she went to job interview, if she completes parenting and substance abuse treatment programs; Taylor also must set up trust funds for her children from $115,000 donated to her after her case drew national attention. MORE

Jul. 17, 2014

Editorial supports federal appeals court ruling striking down Los Angeles ban on citizens living in their cars as desperate necessity in hard times; calls ruling emphatic message that nation's growing homeless problem cannot by solved by criminalization of behavior driven by one's need to survive. MORE

Jun. 30, 2014

De Blasio administration's plans to reduce the amount of rent New York City pays landlords in privately owned apartment buildings who house homeless families hits snag; one landlord, Kalman Tabak, is refusing to accept lower rent and is threatening to evict about 200 homeless families; Tabak says landlords need to charge city more than market rate to cover high turnover costs of housing homeless residents. MORE

Jun. 30, 2014

Op-Ed article by Assoc Prof Christopher Blattman questions New York City Rescue Mission's decision to accept Chinese millionaire Chen Guangbiao's cash donation to city's homeless on behalf of them, rather than allowing Chen to give money directly to homeless themselves; cites studies showing that poor people rarely waste cash donations on alcohol or drugs, but use funds to make permanent or temporary improvements in their lives. MORE

As New York City wrestles with an overall homeless population of more than 60,000, young people pose a challenge not just in terms of providing shelter for them, but also in providing the right kind of shelter.

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The Department of Investigation found family shelters in New York City are too often unsafe and unhealthy for children and families, according to its report. But these problems are the result of decades of neglect, the report said.